On the Way Back
by Miss Uncreative
Summary: Oneshot. Po and Tigress converse about Po's past, being an orphan, and Tigress's relationship with her father - and Shifu listens in on it all.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own KFP. If only...

**AN:** Here's a random oneshot for you. I liked how it turned out, but I want to know what you guys think. :) If you can't tell, this oneshot is from **Shifu's POV**, and takes place **during Kung Fu Panda 2 **(after Shen's defeat, but before the ending of the movie). They're all on the **same boat** from trip to Gongmen City. (sorry if I didn't explain this well). Please enjoy!

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_**On the Way Back**_

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The gentle rocking of the boat as it drifted along the current had the power to make even the lightest sleepers drift off peacefully, or so I thought. It was easy for even me to fall into sleep quite quickly, however, I was still a light sleeper, and the noise of someone tossing and turning kept me up. I tried to ignore it at first, but as I thought it over, I realized, by the sound, that it was Po who was having trouble sleeping. It seemed odd, because Po was the heaviest sleeper of us all, and the aid of the rocking boat would have knocked him out right away, I assumed. But alas, I seemed to be wrong.

"Po?" I heard Viper whisper, concerned.

"Sorry," Po apologized. "Can't get comfortable."

But the tossing stopped, and I started to drift back to sleep, when suddenly Po got up and exited. I opened my eyes and looked around, realizing that half the group was asleep and did not noticed, and the other half was doing their best to ignore Po's outburst, probably figuring he needed time alone. However, there was another (besides myself) who did not fit into either category. Tigress, who lay on the opposite side, perked up. Her eyes flashed open and her ears twitched in the direction of Po's exiting. She sat up slowly, as not to disturb anyone, paused briefly, and then followed Po out.

I thought about following them but decided against it. Perhaps the two just needed some alone time, I thought. I began to drift back into sleep, when I suddenly reconsidered my words: _**alone** time. _

I couldn't explain it, but something didn't feel right about leaving the two alone in the middle of the night. It was not that I did not trust them, because I did, and I tried to settle my worries down by this fact. But no matter how hard I tried, I just had a feeling that I couldn't rid. Master Oogway had taught me long ago to trust these feelings, and so I crept quietly and carefully to the back entrance, and then I climbed up to the top of the roof of the room I was just in, and I watched the pair on the deck as I hid in the shadows.

"Po," Tigress said, skipping straight to the point (I assumed, for there might have been some bit of conversation I missed). "Why are you out here?"

"I, ah, couldn't sleep," Po replied as coolly as he could, shrugging it off. But he avoided her eyes, and I knew, as did Tigress, that what he said was not the complete truth.

Tigress stepped in front of him, looking him square in the eye, but replied sardonically, "Is that all?"

"Yeah!" He said, sounding more enthused that he probably planned. He sighed. "Don't worry about it. I didn't mean to wake you. You can go back to sleep." He sat down then.

"There isn't much sense in that," Tigress replied as she looked out onto the water, and then she sat beside the panda. "I wouldn't be able to sleep anyway."

The pair sat in comfortable silence, but Po's eyes were darting back and forth, as if he was deciding whether or not to say anything to her. Finally, Tigress asked, "So why aren't _you_ sleeping?"

"I told you," Po said, but still he avoided her eyes. "I couldn't sleep."

"Why not?"

It was apparent, to Po and to myself, that Tigress wasn't going to let the topic go. Po sighed and began to fiddle with his fingers. "Well, I can't sleep because I'm unhappy or anything. I just can't stop thinking."

"What about?" Tigress asked him gently.

Po shrugged, as if trying to keep the conversation light. "I mean, I attained Inner Peace, and I'm totally okay with what happened – " He stopped and looked at her. "Y'know."

But she shook her head, and frankly, I was just as confused as she. Po exclaimed, "Oh, right! I haven't told you, have I? Well, when Shen shot me with his cannon, I landed in a river, and Shen's soothsayer found me and fixed me up. She took me to the remains of the Panda Village, where I grew up, and I remembered what happened, Shen's Massacre, and how my dad fought of a wolf to save me, and my mom hid me in a radish bin and distracted Shen and his wolves from me." By the time he finished, he was smiling wistfully.

Tigress put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Your parents sound like great people; you should be proud and honored."

"And I am!" Po exclaimed. He then sighed, "But, like I said, I'm fine with it. I mean, I'm not _fine_, hunky-dory, but I'm…at peace about it, y'know?" She nodded, and so he continued on. "But I now I keep thinking about what I last said to my dad."

"What was that, Po?" Tigress asked.

Po sighed once again. "He didn't want me to go, and I said, lightly, 'If I'm not the Dragon Warrior, then who am I?' and he said, 'You're my son! Right?'" Po looked down at his hands, his voice lowered and solemn. "And I didn't answer him."

The two were silent for a moment.

Tigress then asked slowly, "If your dad asked you that question again, right now, what would you say?"

Po looked up at her. "I'd tell him I'm his son!"

She gave a nod. "Then, when we arrive, just tell him that." Po looked unsure, as his eyes went back to his hands. Tigress brought her face closer to his, to make him look at her, and it worked as she added on. "Po, your father hasn't stopped _loving_ you."

Po smiled softly then nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks."

"Anytime," Tigress replied, giving a soft smile of her own.

I thought for a moment that that was the end. Their conversation was over, and the two would head back to bed. But instead, they just sat there, looking at the water, comfortable silence between them. It wasn't too long, however, before Po spoke up. He seemed slightly uncomfortable and nervous, but he asked anyway, "Can I…ah, ask you something?"

She looked at him, and he took it as a _yes_, and so he went on. "What were you going to say to me – when we were talking the last time, here?"

I raised my eyebrow at the idea of the two of them alone earlier, but it didn't bother me.

Tigress looked away, paused a moment, and then she replied quickly, "It doesn't matter now."

"Why not?" Po asked with furrowed eyebrows.

I could tell Tigress did not want to tell him, for whatever reason. But, just like Tigress hadn't let Po's topic go, now it was Po's turn to wait until she answered. Finally, she explained, staring off into the distant, and she replied slowly, "You told me you found out your dad wasn't really your dad, and I was going to tell you…that…I was…_adopted_."

Tigress looked at Po then, as if her words were everything. But Po stared back, until he blinked, then asked, "That's it?" Realizing that it sounded rude, Po added on, "I mean, I know that."

Tigress sighed: the sigh I heard escape whenever she was around the panda. It was the sigh of knowing she was going to have to dumb her speech down and, well, _elaborate_ a little more. "I just wanted you to know that…you weren't alone. That I knew _exactly_ how you felt."

"_Ohhh._" Po exclaimed as a new thought seemed to dawn on him. "Is that why you hugged me and said – " here he lowered his voice, apparently trying his best Tigress impression. " – _the hardcore do understand_?"

I snickered silently to myself at his impression, but then stopped as I thought over his words. Tigress had _hugged_ Po? I hadn't seen Tigress hug anyone since she was a child, and I was a little surprised, to be honest.

Tigress ignored his impression, and she nodded.

Po looked shocked. "Wow. I mean, I guess I just never really…_thought_ about you being adopted. You really did understand, huh?"

Tigress nodded again. They sat in silence, and I wondered where their conversation would then turn to, when Po spoke up, "Do you still…feel that way?"

She opened her mouth to answer, then stopped herself. But all Po had to do was look at her, and she found a reason to answer the personal question. "Not when I'm busy; which is a lot. When I'm alone, sometimes, I still feel like that."

Po paused before asking another question. "Does it ever…y'know, go away?" The question implied that he felt the same as she, still feeling the weight of whatever plagued them.

Tigress shrugged. "I don't think so. I mean, it probably lessens." She shook her head. "But I bet it doesn't leave."

They sat in silence, and I thought over their words. I couldn't relate to this feeling that they had, and so I wondered what it was. Po quickly turned to Tigress, as if he was too slow, he would lose his nerve, and he said, "Y'know, this is going to sound really weird, but…Shifu loves you."

My ears twitched at the sound of my name, and I leaned a little closer from the roof. Before I could think of anything, Tigress had looked away from Po and stated emotionlessly, "I don't want to talk about it, Po."

"Oh, right!" Po exclaimed awkwardly and then was silent. It seemed odd for Po not to press an issue, and I was actually curious to what Tigress had to say, and that was when Po asked, "Why not?"

Tigress growled softly as she turned her head away. "You wouldn't understand."

"Oh, really?" Po laughed, as if he was accepting a challenge. He realized that Tigress had just stated that they understood each other, and he had caught her in a word trap of her own.

Tigress realized this, too, and she turned back to him. "Po, I…I hardly understand myself."

Po smiled shyly. "We could try and understand it together?"

Tigress looked out on the river. I could see the thought on her face as she considered his offer. It seemed like a long while, and perhaps it was, for I knew Tigress overthought everything, always weighing pros and cons, and finally she turned back to Po.

"I understand," Tigress started, "I understand everything Shifu ever did. His strictness, his lack of affection – I know he was just doing it to protect me. Frankly, I probably would have done it the same way as he. He was just trying to keep me from getting hurt," Her voice began to fall, "But, the thing was, I had already felt hurt."

"How?" I was amazed by his tone. Po somehow managed to ask the question in such a way that his voice echoed his feelings: an anger that someone had hurt her, a protectiveness over her, and yet, it was comforting, calm and gentle.

Tigress shrugged, taking a page from Po's book and trying her best to keep the conversation light. "Back the orphanage. It was nothing…as terrible, as I would see later, as a kung fu master, but I knew what hurt was. After that, there is no need for protection."

Tigress eyes then narrowed. "And then I think, maybe he wasn't trying to protect me...maybe he was trying to protect _himself. _And then I get mad – that he wouldn't love me just because of his own hurt! It was nothing I did or didn't do, it was what Tai Lung did – that Shifu never gave me a chance, he just _assumed_ I would hurt him!"

Tigress stood up, pacing and throwing her arms out in anger. "Dear _gods!_ I would never, _never_ hurt him like Tai Lung – like anyone – I just would never!" She went quiet suddenly, perhaps by Po's wide eyes, and she sat back down beside him. "And then I feel ashamed for getting mad at him, because he's done so much for me. He took me in, he accepted me when everyone else was afraid to..."

She sighed. "And then the circle starts all over again. For twenty years, my thoughts just repeat themselves over and over."

They sat in silence. I tried my best to focus on them, and not on the thoughts and feelings that were running through my head and marching on my heart. Tigress had a face I could not read, and Po was in deep thought, as if he was rethinking all her words and trying to come up with something to say.

Finally, he did, saying, "You aren't wrong to be angry."

"I'm not?" She asked, and he nodded.

"No. I mean, you have a right, and it's justified. It's just that…" Po sighed, turning his body to face her and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Look. _Everything_ you said was right and justified – but that's the _past_. You can keep letting these thoughts bug you, or you can let them go! Or," He added, "even better, you can talk to Shifu about them! I mean, I'm sure he knows he's messed up, and I bet he wants to fix your guys' relationship as much as you."

Tigress was shaking her head. "Oh, no, I couldn't talk to Shifu about this."

"Why not? I mean, nothing's gonna change unless you decide to change it yourself." Po said with a shrug, and I realized he didn't understand how important his words were.

"But like you said, Po: it's the past. I couldn't let him know I still think about it – "

"Tigress," He said as he put his other hand on her second shoulder. "You're _hurting._"

Tigress opened her mouth to retort, but Po beat her to it and spoke on, "The only way to stop the hurting is to face it – " here he removed his hands and made them into fists, then slammed them together, " – head on."

Po shrugged again. "That's what I had to do, back at the Panda Village, and then I attained Inner Peace. And, who knows? Maybe you will, too."

Tigress still looked unsure, and she tried her best to hide it (and I knew how uncertain she had to have been, since she could not hide it). Po opened his arms wide, saying, "C'mere."

Tigress looked shocked. "Po, I – "

"It'll help," Po said with a smile before then pulling her into his arms and into a giant bear hug.

She stiffened up, like I saw her do when the panda hugged her on the docks; but this time, Po didn't let go right away, and it gave Tigress just enough time to get comfortable, and then she threw her arms around his neck, clutching onto him as if he was her only lifeline.

There was nothing sensual about the hug; just the two comforting each other. As I watched the two in their embrace, and watched as Tigress clutched him tighter and tighter, as if afraid to let him go, my thoughts came back. And, I thought, what if I had just held her like that, from a father to his daughter, just a few times? How might things be different?

And I thought of her words: perhaps, she was right. She had always had a gift of discernment, and it seemed that she was correct. I had tried to protect Tigress from hurt – because, unknown to her, I didn't want her to hurt as much as she had at Bao Gu ever again – but, perhaps I had also wanted to protect myself. I hated to admit it, but I knew that she was right about that.

I left then, knowing that nothing was going to happen and that they would return back to bed soon. But I also left knowing that I would have a real conversation with my daughter as soon as we arrived at the Valley of Peace.

As I settled back into my spot, I heard Po and Tigress come back inside and settle quietly (Tigress, anyway, and Po tried his best). The room seemed lighter then, since they both had gotten things off their chest. I opened my eyes to look at Tigress; Tigress, my daughter…

And I began to think of the words I would tell her, when we had our conversation: _Tigress, I love you. You are my daughter; always have been, and always will be, and I am proud of you. You were right – I wanted to protect myself from hurting, and that was wrong of me. Please forgive me._

_But I also wanted to protect _you_. I didn't want to see you hurt anymore; and, instead, it seemed, I hurt you more. Can you forgive me?_

My ears then picked up the quietest whisper coming from Tigress' lips, and, in a moment, I realized she was doing the same as I. I heard her soft whisper, "Baba, I love you."

_I love you, too, daughter. I love you, too._ And I could not wait to tell her these words.


End file.
